SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Juno Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ: JUNO), a biopharmaceutical company
developing innovative cellular immunotherapies for the treatment of
cancer, today announced three license agreements to advance its program
in multiple myeloma using gamma secretase inhibitors (GSIs) in
combination with BCMA-directed CAR T cells.

Gamma secretase is an enzyme that cleaves a set of transmembrane
proteins, including BCMA. Multiple publications have shown that
treatment with GSIs can increase surface expression of BCMA on tumors,
particularly multiple myeloma. Increased cell surface BCMA may increase
potency of a BCMA-directed CAR T therapy1.

“BCMA appears to be an important target for treating patients with
multiple myeloma and Juno is dedicated to investigating novel approaches
to maximize efficacy for these patients. These licenses open up an
important approach to improve the activity and outcomes for CAR T cells
targeted at BCMA,” said Sunil Agarwal, M.D., Juno’s President of
Research and Development. “We plan to begin clinical trials in 2018
combining a gamma secretase inhibitor with our BCMA CAR T product
candidates.”

Through its agreement with Eli Lilly and Company, Juno will acquire a
license to the GSI known as LY3039478, a product candidate that has been
studied in 411 patients and healthy volunteers. Through its agreements
with OncoTracker and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, Juno will
gain exclusive rights to intellectual property within the field of
combinations of GSIs and BCMA-directed engineered T cells.

Juno Therapeutics is building a fully integrated biopharmaceutical
company focused on developing innovative cellular immunotherapies for
the treatment of cancer. Founded on the vision that the use of human
cells as therapeutic entities will drive one of the next important
phases in medicine, Juno is developing cell-based cancer immunotherapies
based on chimeric antigen receptor and high-affinity T cell receptor
technologies to genetically engineer T cells to recognize and kill
cancer. Juno is developing multiple cell-based product candidates to
treat a variety of B-cell malignancies as well as multiple solid tumors
and multiple myeloma. Several product candidates have shown compelling
clinical responses in clinical trials in refractory leukemia and
lymphoma conducted to date. Juno’s long-term aim is to leverage its
cell-based platform to develop new product candidates that address a
broader range of cancers and human diseases. Juno brings together
innovative technologies from some of the world’s leading research
institutions, including the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center,
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, Seattle Children’s Research
Institute (SCRI), the University of California, San Francisco, and The
National Cancer Institute. Juno Therapeutics has an exclusive license to
the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital patented technology for
CD19-directed product candidates that use 4-1BB, which was developed by
Dario Campana, Chihaya Imai, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.
Juno’s product candidate JCAR017 was developed in collaboration with
SCRI and others.

About Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center

At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel
laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists seek new
and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and
other life-threatening diseases. Fred Hutch’s pioneering work in bone
marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which
harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer. An
independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, Fred Hutch
houses the nation’s first and largest cancer prevention research
program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Women’s
Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine
Trials Network. For more information visit www.fredhutch.org
or follow Fred Hutch on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

About OncoTracker

OncoTracker, Inc. (“OncoTracker”) is a Los Angeles-based medical
diagnostics company, with exclusive rights to the recent and patented
discovery of a novel blood biomarker that monitors the tumor burden of
patients with multiple myeloma, CLL, B cell lymphoma and potentially
other cancers. In addition, OncoTracker has a broad array of technology,
intellectual property and products related to therapeutics, monitoring
clinical trials, predicting success of various therapies and real-time
monitoring effectiveness of therapies including multiple myeloma, other
liquid and solid tumors.

Juno’s Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the
meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, Section
27A of the Securities Act of 1933, and Section 21E of the Securities
Exchange Act of 1934, including statements regarding Juno’s mission,
progress, and business plans; the therapeutic potential of combining
JCARH125, or other engineered T cells, with GSIs; and Juno’s planned
clinical trials. Forward-looking statements are subject to risks and
uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from
such forward-looking statements, and reported results should not be
considered as an indication of future performance. These risks and
uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks associated with:
the success, cost, and timing of Juno’s product development activities
and clinical trials; Juno’s ability to obtain regulatory approval for
and to commercialize its product candidates; Juno’s ability to establish
a commercially-viable manufacturing process and manufacturing
infrastructure; regulatory requirements and regulatory developments;
success of Juno’s competitors with respect to competing treatments and
technologies; Juno’s dependence on third-party collaborators and other
contractors in Juno’s research and development activities, including for
the conduct of clinical trials and the manufacture of Juno’s product
candidates; Juno’s ability to attract and retain key scientific, quality
control/assurance, manufacturing or management personnel; Juno’s
dependence on Celgene for the development and commercialization outside
of North America and China of Juno’s CD19 product candidates and any
other product candidates for which Celgene exercises an option; Juno’s
dependence on JW Therapeutics (Shanghai) Co., Ltd and its affiliates for
the development and commercialization of product candidates in China;
Juno’s ability to obtain, maintain, or protect intellectual property
rights related to its product candidates; amongst others. For a further
description of the risks and uncertainties that could cause actual
results to differ from those expressed in these forward-looking
statements, as well as risks relating to Juno’s business in general, see
Juno’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and
Exchange Commission on November 1, 2017 and Juno’s other periodic
reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These
forward-looking statements speak only as of the date hereof. Juno
disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

The “About Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center” and “About
OncoTracker” sections of this press release were provided by Fred
Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and OncoTracker, respectively. Juno
disclaims all responsibility for the accuracy of the content of those
sections and the websites or other Internet content referenced therein.